Magpies avoid big guns in draw

NEWCASTLE and Chelsea have avoided the biggest threats to their Champions League qualification dreams after being seeded for today’s draw.

The Magpies and Chelsea, have been seeded 11th and sixth respectively for the third and final qualifying round draw in Nyon, Switzerland. Scottish champions Rangers are 12th of the 16 sides rated as the strongest in the preliminary knock-out stage, while Old Firm rivals Celtic will also be seeded if they get past Lithuanian side FBK Kaunas in the second round.

That means that all four will not have to contend with the likes of top seeds Lazio, Deportivo la Coruna, Galatasaray or Ajax. Instead, they are guaranteed a two-legged tie against one of the 28 unseeded clubs still involved in the second round, a list which includes Bohemians, Benfica, Slavia Prague and CSKA Sofia.

The nature of today's draw in which the first team out of the hat will play at home first means the seeds will have to wait until August 6, the date of the second leg of the second qualifying round ties, to learn which of the two sides they will face.

First leg games in the third round will take place on either August 12 or 13, with the second legs on August 26 and 27.

Newcastle have twice been involved in the qualifying phase in the past and will hope that they can preserve their 100% record. In 1997, they safely negotiated a tough tie when they took a narrow 2-1 lead to Croatia Zagreb and, with the help of an extra-time goal from Temuri Ketsbaia, snatched a 4-3 aggregate victory.

Second Qualifying Round of the UEFA Champions League

Bohemians v Rosenborg; CSKA Moscow v Vardar; FBK Kaunas v Celtic; FC Copenhagen v Sliema Wanderers; Leotar v Slavia Prague; MSK Zilina v Maccabi Tel-Aviv; Maribor v Dinamo Zagreb; Partizan Belgrade v Djurgarden; Pyunik v CSKA Sofia; Rapid Bucuresti v Anderlecht; SK Tirana v Graz AK; Sheriff Tiraspol v Shakhtar Donetsk; Wisla Krakow v Omonia Nicosia.

First Leg ties to be played Wednesday, July 30; Second Leg Wednesday, August 6.